ABS-CBN Corp. has managed to narrow its attributable net loss to P1.16 billion in the first quarter from P1.38 billion last year after reducing costs and expenses.
In the three months that ended March, the company generated lower revenues at P4.26 billion, down 8.4% from P4.65 billion last year, which it attributed to lower consumer sales.
Consumer sales in the first quarter went down by 12% to P2.79 billion from P3.17 billion in 2022, while advertising revenues inched down by 0.6% to P1.48 billion.
“Consumer sales are lower by P380 million due to the decline from the prior year’s licensing and syndication of the company’s content library,” the company said.
ABS-CBN incurred P1.74 billion in production costs in the first quarter, lower by 1.4% than P1.77 billion previously. Cost of services also dropped by 1.6% to P1.78 billion from P1.8 billion last year.
“Production costs and cost of sales and services are lower… due to the continuous cost control measures implemented by the company,” it said. General and administrative expenses likewise declined to P1.86 billion, 14.8% lower than the P2.19 billion booked in 2022.
“This is mainly attributable to the Employee Stock Plan (ESP) provided last year,” it said. “The facilities-related expenses of cable and broadband business also contributed to the decrease.”
ESP is the compensation ABS-CBN provided its employees wherein it gave stocks in exchange for the voluntary pay cuts they took to help the company in 2022.
The company has two business segments: content production and distribution, and the services offered by telecommunications firm Sky Cable Corp.
In its report, the company said its first business segment trimmed last year’s loss to P1.09 billion, while the cable and broadband segment widened it to P128 million.
During the quarter, the company’s capital expenditures and program rights acquisitions amounted to P293 million.
On Monday, shares in the company closed a centavo higher or by 0.14% to P7.34 each. — Justine Irish D. Tabile